ep: things leo does by jason grace
by partlycharlie
Summary: God, he loves Leo's laugh. It's more like a giggle than anything - all high-pitched and bubbly; his mouth stretches into the widest smile Jason's ever seen, and his tongue sticks out of his tongue just a little bit, and holy fuck Jason's in love with Leo. Shit. [leo does things sometimes, and jason notices.]


_hello friends! this is crossposted from ao3, so don't worry if you happen to recognize it lol. it's under the same name on ao3 so feel free to go check with me over there if you're unsure. this is a two-shot - one today, one tomorrow. hope you enjoy!_

 **1\. chews on the end of pencils when he's concentrating**

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey, Leo."

"Hey, Jason."

"Hey, Leo. Guess what."

"Hey, Jason. What."

"Hey, Leo? Stop chewing on your fucking pencil."

Leo finally looks up from the blueprints he's working on, bright red mechanical pencil still shoved in between his teeth.

"Okay…" he says, eyes tracking the movement of the lead as it bobs up and down in time with his words. "Am I distracting you?"

Jason's eyes track the movements too, until he realizes that he's literally watching Leo's mouth and hurriedly glances away. "Okay - first, I'm literally doing nothing? I'm just sitting here, I dunno what you could be distracting me from. Second, _no_ , but you tend to complain way too fuckin' much when you go to erase some mistake or whatever and realize that you've bitten all the erasers off of your ridiculously expensive pencils."

The brunet grins reluctantly in response, slowly letting the rubber end of his pencil tip until it falls out of his mouth, and they both watch as it lands on the wooden floor with a decisive _crack_. "Well, then." He turns back to his sketch - an outline for Jason's newest cabin, since Hera knows he'd never be able to do it himself (and boy, does she love to complain about how he can't do any of his fucking work) - and silence overtakes the bunker.

Jason glances over at the flashing dialog clock stationed on the wall, squinting when the neon red numbers swim in front of his eyes before settling into straight lines.

 _3:06 AM._

Holy shit - when the hell did it get this late? He looks at Leo again and finds bloodshot eyes, ruffled hair that's had a hand pushed through it one too many times, bags under his eyes and an almost manic smile on his face that stays present even as he grumbles at himself for a mistake in his measurements. Jason's eyebrows scrunch up and he leans back into the swivel chair he uses whenever he and Leo are in the bunker together. He decides not to focus on the fact that he's there so often that he has a designated place to chill - that, and the sudden realization that Leo made it that way.

Anyway.

"Leo."

The boy in question throws his hands up and spins around wildly in his chair, going in circles for a while before finally settling to meet Jason's eyes. "¿Que quieres de mi?" _[t - What do you want from me?]_

Jason smiles a tiny bit- just a lift of the corners of his mouth, really. "You realize it's 3am, right?"

Leo's mouth drops open and he scrambles out of his chair, almost falling onto the floor in his search for his watch. Jason doesn't tell him about the giant neon clock that he built, perfectly content to watch him look around like a maniac. "Shit, Jake's gonna kill me…" he finally mumbles, burying his face in his hands.

Jason smiled, "It'll be fine. C'mon, let's start heading back."

 **2\. forms one hand into a peace sign when he takes photos**

Jason's eyes widen as a blur of Piper-shaped color speeds past he and Leo, holding something vaguely similar to a Polaroid camera.

"You _do_ realize that's not an actual Polaroid camera, right? The Polaroid company stopped making the original cameras like a decade ago or somethin'." Leo looks up at him with a mildly amused expression, as if he thinks the statement is common knowledge. Leo thinks this, of course, because he is a weirdo with obscure immediate processing camera knowledge.

Is he thinking out loud?

"Nah, not really," Leo says, shrugging his shoulders and adjusting the straps of his suspenders almost immediately after. Apparently Jason had immediately continued thinking out loud while wondering whether he was thinking out loud, because that's just his life. "You just mumbled something about Polaroids and I figured it was in reference to the running Piper blob."

"Huh. That's interesting. Everyone just calls them Polaroids, so I guess I never really thought about it. What are they called, then?"

Leo pauses for a second. "Well. I don't think the film or pictures or whatever has an actual name - which is why everyone just calls the pictures Polaroids - but I'm vaguely sure the brand of camera is Fujifilm or something. I haven't used one of those since I got my DSLR one, but I'm pretty sure they sell for, like, 60 bucks in the city." Jason nods, a thoughtful look settling on his face in the form of a tilted eyebrow.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Leo and he jump about a foot in the air (Jason having to fight his instinct yelling at him to _fly the fuck away_ , and Leo almost slamming himself into Jason's back) when Piper runs back to stand in front of them. She's got a hopeful look on her face and a wild look in her eyes, and neither of the conflicting emotions make Jason feel any better about the camera in her hands.

"I've been looking for you guys everywhere! Where the hell have you been?" she asks, breath still shaky from all the running she's probably been doing. Leo and Jason share a amused glance.

Leo speaks up. "We've been here for like an hour, Pipes. I dunno how you haven't seen us yes - we've been sitting here for like half an hour and you ran right past us only a minute ago."

Piper narrows her eyes at Leo, seemingly reluctant to accept his explanation, but shrugs and settles on the soles of her feet with a goofy grin. "Well, it doesn't really matter now that I've found you, right? Anyway, I need your help with something. It's not serious, don't worry about that, but I'd really really _really_ appreciate it."

Leo smiles widely at her, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "Sure, as long as it doesn't lead to the possibility of my graceful, yet horrific and destructive death. What's up?"

She rolls her eyes and ignores him, turning just the slightest bit to face Jason instead. "Do you think you could help me get pictures of everyone? I'm, uh, planning on heading to New Rome in a bit- with Nico? If he'll take me, y'know." She shrugs. "It's summer, though, and since everyone's here I'd, uh," she coughs suddenly, "like to get as many pictures as I can." Jason can hear the tone of wistfulness in Piper's voice, and he winces internally in sympathy.

The war hadn't ended all that long ago - neither had their relationship - and the wounds were still fresh, in both cases. He, at least, could understand the desire to make memories that would last.

Heads turns towards Leo as he starts bouncing on the tips of his toes, his face lit up in excitement. "Yeah, sure! Sounds awesome to me! How many people do you want to take photos of? Do you have enough film? Do you want to be in the photos? Do you want us to be in the photos? Are they going to be candids? Where are you going to put them? When do you-"

"Leo, chill, okay? I'm taking things one step at a time." Leo grins sheepishly and stops bouncing ignoring the confused stares from bystanders (fucking New York - Jason can never get a break from staring people, he _swears_ ). "Can I take a photo of you two first?" she asks.

Jason and Leo both nod at Piper simultaneously, then look at each other with happy grins on their faces. "Yeah, let's do it!"

Piper steps forward, pulling her camera out of the case hanging from her neck. Jason and Leo both scramble to get into some kind of position for the picture. The shorter of the two slings an arm around the taller boy's shoulder- Jason, in turn, wraps his arm around Leo's waist, his thumb brushing against Leo's slender hipbone.

Piper beams, aiming it towards the two.

"Alright, ready? One, two, th - Connor I swear to god if you don't get out of the shot I'm going to _literally_ murder you - okay, ready? - alright, here we go -" Jason feels a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye but ignores it until the flash of the camera goes off. He turns to face Leo, who, at the last moment, had thrown up a peace sign in front of his face. With wide eyes, Jason slowly looks back at Piper, who has lowered the camera and is waiting for the picture to come out. She doesn't seem very surprised- all she does is raise an eyebrow in response. _What?_

Jason's face twists. _Does he always do that?_

She shrugs, and Leo shifts under Jason's weight. Jason draws back a bit, surprised by Leo's casual acceptance of his arm in such an intimate position, and Leo looks up at him with furrowed eyebrows.

 _You okay?_

Jason smiles widely, running a thumb over the smooth skin on Leo's hip and pretending to ignore the small shudder that goes through the smaller boy. _Yeah, I'm fine._

 **3\. covers his mouth with his hand while laughing**

"Hey, Leo." Jason's voice is colored with hidden amusement.

The brunette in question lifts his head briefly from where he's hunched over, playing with some sort of toy helicopter.

"Yeah?" he asks, already starting to smile.

"What did the Vikings name their plant?"

Leo snorts. "Fuck if I know."

Jason starts laughing before he even starts the sentence. "L-LEAF Erikson!"

Leo, despite himself, feels his mouth start to stretch wide into a grin. Before he knows it, Jason and he are both sitting on the ground, heads buried in their hands and shoulders shaking with giggles.

"H-hey, hey, Leo," Jason manages.

Leo doesn't bother trying to respond, instead just flopping a hand in Jason general's vicinity.

"Wh-why did the s-skeleton wan-want a friend?"

Leo sighs in mock exasperation, his raucous laughter finally dying down in favor of a response. "Why?"

Jason's eyes crinkle. "Because he was BONELY!" Leo immediately bursts out in laughter, slapping a hand across his mouth in what appears to be a reflex.

How has he never noticed that before?

God, he loves Leo's laugh. It's more like a giggle than anything - all high-pitched and bubbly; his mouth stretches into the widest smile Jason's ever seen, and his tongue sticks out between his teeth just a little bit, and _holy fuck Jason's in love with Leo._

Shit.

 **4\. talks in spanish when he gets frustrated**

" … ¿y por qué? Porque Nyssa es una puta, y no puede hacer una tarea tan simple como esta - y ahora tengo que hacer esta mierda yo solo, porque todos los demás son demasiado jodidamente estúpido para hacerlo. _Dios mio…_ " _[t - …and why? Because Nyssa's a whore, and can't complete a task as simple as this - and now I need to do this shit by myself, because everyone else is too fucking stupid to do it. My god…]_

Jason's eyes widen noticeably - he isn't fluent by any means, but he knows enough to get by, and to tell that Leo is _seriously_ pissed.

He raps on the door of the Hephaestus cabin softly, poking his head in and watching as sunlight starts to filter in through the doorway. Leo sets his hammer down with a _bang_ , and Jason twitches.

" _Jesuchristo…_ yes, Chris, I know I haven't eaten in fourteen hours, yes, Chris, I'm _aware_ that I haven't eaten in longer, but if none of you are willing to help me finish this I don't really have any other option." Leo trails off into a series of angry mumbles as he lets out a soft sigh, and Jason frowns worriedly.

"Not Chris, but I can't say I blame him for being worried about you." Leo's face transforms as he turns around in his chair; his eyebrows smooth out and he gets a tiny smile on his face and his eyes crinkle at the corners and _he's fucking gorgeous._

Ahem.

Jason clears his throat (and his mind, though less successfully) and shifts the tray balanced in his hands, holding it up for Leo's inspection.

Leo finally looks down at the food on the tray and almost immediately stands up, grin getting wider despite his stumbling over the tool left on the floor next to his chair. Jason bites his lower lip in an attempt to hide the fond smile he knows he gets whenever Leo does something dumb.

"Damn," Leo mutters, walking over to grab the tray from him. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

Jason swallows harshly. "Y'know, 'loved' kind of implies you don't love me now - I've gotta admit, that's a little disheartening." Leo rolls his eyes exaggeratedly from where he's setting down the overflowing tray of food (okay, yes, maybe Jason went a little overboard when wishing up food for Leo to eat, but what do you expect?) on his bed. He straightens up and lifts an outstretched hand in Jason's direction, twisting his face into something vaguely representing heartbreak.

"Alas," Leo says with conviction, "mine boiling love for thee hath faded into somethink simmering, not nearly as warming underneath thy soul!"

Jason starts to form a properly Shakespearean response in his head, then stops. "What the hell is that even supposed to mean?"

Leo shrugs. "I think I stopped being in love with you. Not that that would ever happen in _real_ life, obviously." He winks.

"Right. Obviously."


End file.
